GREENSBORO – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference released its preseason all-conference baseball team on Friday with one North Carolina A&T Aggie on the first team and two additional Aggies on the second team.
Sophomore catcher Adan Ordonez (5-7, 180, Clermont, Fla.), the 2015 MEAC Rookie of the Year, was the lone Aggie to make the first team. Junior second baseman Timothy Ravare (5-7, 161, Los Angeles, Calif.) and sophomore center fielder Myles Sowell (6-2, 175, Greensboro, N.C.) were second-team selections.
The conference also released their preseason prediction of order with the Aggies picked to finish last in the MEAC southern division. The preseason teams were selected by MEAC sports information directors and head coaches.
Ordonez is the Aggies leading returning hitter for N.C. A&T. He batted .337 last season. In 2015, Ordonez was second on the team with 15 multiple-hit games. He had the team's longest hitting streak of the season with 11 and he reached base in 14 straight games from April 14-May 9. He also had 13 RBI and started all 46 games as a freshman. Ordonez was also named A&T's Male Rookie Athlete of the Year.
“He is a little guy, but he stays mentally tuned in,” said head coach Ben Hall. “He never looks up, he never looks down. He is always kind of smooth and even keel. It's nothing unusual for him. He's a huge lift every day he is in the lineup, whether he is hitting in the nine hole or the two, he's brings consistency to the lineup.”
Ravare earned All-MEAC honors as a utility player in 2015. He played three different positions during the season including 16 games at third base, 11 games at second and 10 games as the Aggies designated hitter. He hit .286 with 14 RBI and two home runs while playing in 40 games with 37 starts. Ravare had the second-longest hitting streak for the Aggies in 2015 with nine from March 29-April 10.
Sowell, a graduate of nearby Dudley High School, makes his first appearance on an all-conference team – preseason or postseason. Sowell came on strong late in the season. Over the Aggies final 14 games, Sowell batted .362 (17-for-47) with a .404 slugging percentage, five runs scored and seven RBI. Only Ordonez had a better batting average for the Aggies over that span. Sowell hit .281 for the season with 21 runs scored, 14 RBI, five doubles and two triples.
The Aggies were 10-36 last season and 7-17 in the MEAC in 2015. They open the 2016 season, Friday, Feb. 19 at War Memorial Stadium against Navy at 3 p.m.
